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Is mystery Russian spacecraft a satellite-killer?

IS IT watching the watchers? Russia has launched a spacecraft that is whizzing around low Earth orbit visiting satellites, it emerged this week. The mystery craft has renewed fears that Russia has revived its interest in developing anti-satellite weapons, a programme thought to have been abandoned in the 1980s.

Kosmos 2499 was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia on 23 May alongside three communications satellites. US Air Force Space Command is believed to be monitoring it closely.

Its three companions – Kosmos 2496, 2497 and 2498 – are thought to be for military communications, says David Todd, an analyst with space-flight data provider Seradata of Welford, UK. “The fourth spacecraft, Kosmos 2499, is making regular changes to its orbit, including making a visit on 28 October to the Briz-M rocket stage that launched it,” he says.

Kosmos 2499 is making regular changes to its orbit, and has visited the rocket that launched it

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Todd thinks there might be a more prosaic explanation. Other nations, including the US, send spacecraft to inspect problem satellites. Kosmos 2499 might just be doing the same, he says.